The belief in God, and a good and all-powerful God, is a fundamental pillar of the Judeo-Christian tradition. This fact is so obvious, and this tweet so intensely stupid, that it is truly painful to have to explain it. Suggesting that “being Christian is a state of being” and that any loving person is a Christian takes God out of the definition.

Dowd claimed that atheists are “some of the most Christian folks [he knows.]” This statement is absurd as it completely severs all the religious tenants of Christianity from membership in the religion. Dowd can reasonably say that some of the most ardent practitioners of Judeo-Christian moral values he knows in life are atheists, but his statement goes much further than that in describing them in a religious context.

There is a significant difference between atheists who follow Judeo-Christian values and actual Christians and religious Jews. (Judaism is slightly more complicated because of its ethnic component.) Christians and Jews believe that moral values come from God; atheists, by definition, do not. Dowd’s suggestion that this difference does not matter in classifying someone as Christian, that being Christian is “merely a state of being” and “practicing love” is a total perversion of Christianity itself. Dowd, who claims to practice Catholicism, has no excuse for overlooking this obvious fact.

This tweet is unsurprising given the left’s penchant for disparaging religion. The left has attacked religion for a long time, more so in the last few years. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear the appeal of the religious baker in Colorado who was sued for refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding. In 2014, The Supreme Court narrowly decided in the Hobby Lobby case to stave off government attacks on religious freedom by allowing corporations to refuse to offer contraception which constituted abortion when it violates their religious beliefs.

Leftists also attack religion culturally. We see this from then President Obama suggesting that religious people in Pennsylvania were merely clinging on to religion out of frustration from unemployment, to disingenuously using religious arguments they don’t believe to justify leftist policies.

Now, we have a member of the leftist media tweeting out a statement that removes the requirement of belief in God from being a religious person. On some level, that’s worse than criticizing religion as archaic and wrong, if only because it comes from someone who identifies as a man of Judeo-Christian faith that has no excuse for spewing out such sheer ignorance about his own religion.

About The Author

Matthew Stein is a student at Swarthmore College. In addition to his work for The College Conservative, Matthew is a student reporter at The College Fix, a campus correspondent at Campus Reform, and a student ambassador for PragerForce. He also holds leadership roles in the conservative and pro-Israel groups on campus.